We Were a FamilyOnce
by OutsiderLuvr123
Summary: Dally's sister Emma comes to live with the Curtis's.... u gotta read it to find out more!
1. Chapter 1

Shots rang through the silence, echoing off the dark alley walls. Shouts to flee broke through the noisy din of the bullets...

Emma woke with a start, a scream of someone really close to her ringing in her ears. She tried to move but became aware of someone's firm hug around her. As she glanced up to see who the person was, Emma remembered the dream and realized it was she who had screamed. Now conscience of this fact, she nervously looked up at the boy who was holding her so tightly. Soda looked back down at her and gave her a crooked grin.

"Are you ok?" He asked as he unfolded his arms from around her. Emma nodded as she looked around the room. Ponyboy and Darry were waiting patiently by the bed. She had woken the whole house.

"I'm ok. Sorry I woke you guys up." Emma tried without success to shrug off the dream she had just had.

"What did you dream about?" Soda asked. He waited as Emma deliberated whether or not to tell him.

Deciding not to she said, "It was nothing. Just another nightmare. I'm ok now. You can go back to bed." Emma had no intention of recounting her days in New York where the dream had taken place. She lay back down and pulled the covers up to her ears.

She felt the bed shift as Soda got up. She heard the three boys talking and then there was silence. But Emma could feel someone's presents in the room; watching and guarding her from her thoughts as she drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, Emma woke up to the sound of someone showering. She kicked off the covers and looked around the room. There was no sign that someone had slept there excpet the armchair had moved out of the corner and placed right next to the bed. As she walked through the living room towards the kitchen, Emma noticed the silent lump on the couch.

"Dally?" The lump stirred and moaned softly. Dallas Winston turned over on the couch looking tired and his eyes bloodshot.

"Ugh,what time is it?" Dally whined. Emma stepped closer to her brother. She looked at him from head to toe, looking for an injury. Finding none, she concluded that it was just a hangover.

"Its 8:30," she said without sympathy "and you better get up."

"Would you stop hollerin' "

"I'm not hollerin'. Get up and i'll make you something I used to make for Mom." Dally's head raised a little with the mention of their mother.

"What do you mean 'you used to make for Mom'?" Emma rolled her eyes at Dally. He had left New York before their mother had started drinking. He was the reason she had started drinking.

"I mean i'll make you something I made Mom when she got hungover but you wouldnt know about that would you," Emma said with sarcasm. Dally knew what was coming and prepared himself. He had known Emma would explode at him but he didnt expect her to wait two weeks before mentioning a thing.

"Oh yeah,she got drunk, brought random men over. Men that would beat me up after she passed out." Emma's voice had begun to raise,"then I would be the one that would have to be there for her when she realized those guys had snuck out in the middle of the night. And what about Peter, Dally?" Dally looked down at his shoes, "You left me alone to deal with that. It took me years to even think about him without crying," Emma noticed that the three brothers had come into the room, wandering what was going on, but their presents was not enough to stop her. But before she could add anything more, Dally stepped up and defended himself.

"Then why dont you go back to New York? Back to Mom. I never said I wanted you here and you clearly dont want to so just go back."

Emma stared right back at Dally and simply said, "Mom is dead. You're my guardian now,"and walked out, leaving behind four bewildered faces.


	2. Chapter 2

A little ways down the road, Emma heard sneakers pounding against the road trying to catch up to her. She figured it was Dally so she didnt bother to turn around. But the sneakers didnt get closer. They stayed a few feet behind her. Emma turned around and was surprised to see Ponyboy. Even though they had lived in the same house for almost two weeks, they had barely spoken a word to each other.

"Oh, um, hi," Emma said.Ponyboy looked down at his feet and mumbled a hello.

"Did Dally send you?" Ponyboy nodded his head and Emma rolled her eyes. Typical Dally, always avoiding a confrentation. They walked along the street for a couple of minutes, letting their feet lead them along. After about five minutes of walking in silence, they ended up at the lot.

"You know I'm really surprised at you,Pony," said Emma as she sat down under the big oak tree, "Anyone else would have wanted to know what was going on but you actually wanted to see if I was alright." Emma smiled as Ponyboy looked at her and blushed.

"Dally sent me to follow you, make sure you didnt get jumped or nothin. But it seemed like a nasty fight. You looked real sad so I caught up to you to let you know I was there for you. When you didnt say anything, I figured you didnt want to talk about it." That had been the longest conversation they had had yet and Emma enjoyed it. She could tell that she really like Pony.

"That was real sweet of you. Do you want to hear about it? I dont mind tellin it." Emma had decided that if there was one person to tell it would be Pony. He wouldnt judge her.

Pony nodded and waited as Emma started her story.

"I had a real family once. Not a messed up one but a nice one with a mother and a father and two brothers. We lived in a real bad part of town but it was my favorite place in the world. I loved it. My mom and dad got along real good and me, Peter and Dally were real close. We were all real happy. Then one day all that changed. A street fight erupted into a massive gang fight. My dad went to fight and he didnt come back. In New York, there are no rules in a fight except win. I was five, Dally was ten and Peter was thirteen. My mom was strong though and raised us by herself. She worked double shifts and enforced stricter rules when it came to us going out. Things went on like that for about three years," here Emma paused. She had never been able to get past this part of the story. Pony didnt push her to go on and waited as she collected her thoughts.

"I actually thought life was normal again until I got jumped and in New York you dont just get jumped, you get killed. I was walking home from school when I noticed four boys, who were alot older than me, following me down the street. I tried to lose them but they herded me into an alley. Once I was there, they beat me up real good. As I layed on the alley floor,my eyes shut closed to the world,I heard one of the kids mention he had a gun and the other three laughed. Then I felt cold metal on my forehead and all feeling left me. I went numb with fear. Fear that these kids could and would kill me. But I just lay there, praying it would be fast. But it didnt come. Instead I heard the sounds of a fight. I opened my eyes to see Peter fighting off the boys single handed. I got up and was about to help him when Peter rushed over to me and pushed me to the ground. I remembered the gun. I heard shots being fired and running foot steps. I yelled at Peter to get off of me but part of me already knew what had happened. I slowly walked home, with the body of my brother supported on my shoulder. I got to my house and knocked on the door. Dally answered it. He said something but I dont remember what. I had passed out," Emma stopped here because her eyes had started to water and she didnt like people see her cry. She took a few deep breathes and finished her story.

"I woke up in the hospital a few days later. Dally nor my mother where in my room. I learned from the doctors they hadnt come while I was unconscious. I wasnt really surprised. I left the hospital later that day and headed home. I found my mother in the living room crying and Dally was no where to be seen. She didnt come and ask me how I was or even look up. She just sat there holding Peter's shirt. Later that night, Dally came home nice and drunk. He started yelling at my mom and he hit me. The next day he was gone. He had left no clue to where he had gone. This was to much for my mother to handle. She had lost the three most important people in her life and I wasnt enough. She tried to drink her problems away but it didnt work. I found her on the couch one morning not breathing and I found that I didnt feel sad or anything. I just felt relief. After the funeral, I came looking for Dally and thats how I ended up here."

They both sat on the hard ground, in silence, for awhile, thinking over the story that had just been told. Pony was the first to realize how late it was."We better get back. Dally will be worried." Emma nodded and they walked side by side, both lost in their own thoughts.


	3. Chapter 3

When they arrived at the Curtis house, Pony and Emma weren't surprised to find Steve, Johnny and Two-Bit had appeared and were lounging on the couch. They were there practically ever morning. Seeing Emma, Dally quickly walked into the kitchen.

"What is that about?" Two-Bit asked notcing Dal's strange behavior.

"Nothin'. He has been actin weird all day." Soda said. Emma looked at him greatfully and he gave her a smile.

Two-Bit shrugged and went back to watching TV. There was a couple minutes of unnatural silence in the house. Darry broke the silence and told Pony to get ready for school.

Emma sat down onto the couch, ready for another boring day. She hadnt gone to school since Peter's death and didnt plan on starting now.

"Bye Emma" Ponyboy said. Emma waved goodbye and settled even farther down into the couch as the house cleared. Through out the day, she busied herself with cleaning the house, reading and watching TV. It was about time for the house to start filling up again when Emma got bored and decided to go for a walk.

She didnt get to far though. Dally was wating for her on the porch of the house.

"How long have you been there?" Emma demanded.

Dallas shrugged and kept on smoking his cigarette.

"Well, you got anything to say to me?" Emma demanded again. Dally turned around and stared at her.

"Why didnt you tell me Mom was dead? You have been here two weeks and not a word about it."

"Why do you care? You left us, remeber?" Emma shot back.

"Of course I care. I have to care. She is my mother too.Why didnt you tell me?" Dally asked again.

Emma sighed. She hadnt wanted to tell Dallas the real reason but she had also not wanted to tell him anything in the first place so what was the point of keeping this from him too.

"I didnt want to tell you because I didnt want there to be a reason why I was here. I just wanted you to be happy I was here. I wanted you to be happy that I came instead of you thinking I was another person you would have to take care of." Emma looked down at her feet as she said this. She had imagined over and over again how it would be telling Dally this. Everytime it had turned out badly. Instead she felt Dallas pull her into a hug. They hugged for a few seconds, each enjoying the brother and sister bonding moment.

It was quickly over when a commotion was heard in the back alley. Dally smiled down at Emma and ran off to see what it was. Emma stood still for a couple of more seconds, shocked at what just happened. That had been the first time Dally had shown any affection toward her since Peter's death. She shook her surprise and ran around to the back.

Pony was lying on his back with Darry leaning over him. Dallas and the rest of the gang was chasing a car down the street. The car disappeared around the corner and the gang strode back towards Pony. Emma hurried over to Pony to make sure they had not hurt him to bad. She had started to be overly cautious when it came to someone being jumped after her father died. Darry hauled Ponyboy up by his shoulders and he started to walk away.

"Im ok," he assured everyone shakily. Emma breathed a sigh of relief. He was ok. Emma watched Pony as he slowly walked back to the house with his brothers. He was still shaking a bit but the color was returning to his face. The gang walked behind him, always on the watch for someone to hurt one of their members.


End file.
